Josh Hawley’s wife files criminal complaint against man who led protest outside their home while she & baby were inside
WIFE of Republican Senator Josh Hawley has filed a criminal complaint against the organizer of a protest staged outside the couple’s home. Erin Morrow Hawley filed the complaint on Friday, with the defendant identified as Patrick Young. On January 4, Patrick Young led a demonstration outside Hawley’s Virginia home in an angered response to the […]
WIFE of Republican Senator Josh Hawley has filed a criminal complaint against the organizer of a protest staged outside the couple’s home.
Erin Morrow Hawley filed the complaint on Friday, with the defendant identified as Patrick Young.
On January 4, Patrick Young led a demonstration outside Hawley’s Virginia home in an angered response to the senator’s plans to object to Electoral College counts and confirming Joe Biden won the Presidential election.
Erin Hawley and the couple’s infant daughter Abigail were home during the protest.
However the junior senator and the couple’s two sons were back in Missouri.
Video of the protest saw the crowd chanting “Shame on you!” and “Stand up, fight back!” outside the family home.
At lease a dozen protesters shouted through megaphones before writing on the sidewalk with chalk and walking up to the couple’s doorstep.
At one point, Erin Hawley opened her front door and asked the protesters to leave, saying: “We’ve got neighbors and a baby, thank you.
But the demonstrators didn’t budge.
Police were called to the premises and the crowd was dispersed. At the time, law enforcement officials described the protesters as ‘peaceful’ and there were no reports of arrests.
“I was fearful and closed and locked the door,” she later wrote in a statement supporting her complaint.
Sen. Hawley accused the protesters, who were organized by a group called ShutdownDC, of vandalizing his residence and threatening his family.
He wrote on Twitter: “Tonight while I was in Missouri, Antifa scumbags came to our place in DC and threatened my wife and newborn daughter, who can’t travel.”
“They screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door. Let me be clear: My family & I will not be intimidated by leftwing violence.”
A local magistrate found “probable cause” to charge the protest organizer, Patrick Young, with illegal protesting, a misdemeanor.
Young then released a statement saying: “If a summons has been issued, it is outrageous that a rich and powerful person — a United States senator — can go to their magistrate to get a summons to harass a normal person.”
ShutdownDC subsequently downplayed reports of Erin Hawley’s complaint.
ShutdownDC said in a statement about the summons for Young: “We are not aware of any summons issued related to our candle light vigil at Senator Hawley’s house.”
“Police on the scene did not believe a crime was committed. That was confirmed by the Vienna Police department in media reports days later. If a summons has been issued, it is outrageous that a rich and powerful person — a United States Senator — can go to their magistrate to get a summons to harass a normal person.”
Anyone is allowed to file a criminal complaint in Virginia.
On Friday night, the group posted Twitter messages, accusing Sen. Hawley of “trying to have people thrown in jail.”
Sen. Hawley’s office told ABC that in recent weeks his family has received “numerous threats on their lives that are being monitored by authorities.”
However Officer Juan Vazquez, a spokesman for the Vienna Police Department, said the protesters remained peaceful and there was no evidence of property damage.
Vazquez said: ”It was a minor event.”
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“Basically we got a call saying there was some sort of protest in front of a residence in our town. … The group was maybe 15 to 20 people.”
The officer said the protesters left without any incidents or arrests after officers warned them they were violating ordinances against protesting in front of private homes, excessive noise and writing on the sidewalk in chalk.
The protest came just days after the homes of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., were vandalized and two days before the deadly U.S. Capitol riot.